Yesterday I joined a great online session with members of the Intersection Group.

And it dawned on me – what was life like before EDGY.

It started with TOGAF

As an Enterprise Architect way back when TOGAF (The Open Group Architecture Framework) was the go to certification, many if not all EA roles were asking for the TOGAf qualification/certification.

It’s a structured methodology for developing and managing enterprise architecture, aligning business and IT strategies through a step-by-step process, best practices, and reusable guidelines.

The key word for me was a “step by step process” that many adopted (and still do) in the architectural review board governance protocols.

And most of all no one really outside of Architecture would have been certified in it.

Moved onto BIZBOK

Although rarely referenced in role profile BIZBOK became a go to reference body of knowledge.

Although it is a comprehensive guide and framework for business architecture, developed by the Business Architecture Guild. It provides principles, practices, and methodologies to help organizations align business strategies with operations.

And it helped amplify the BUSINESS aspects of the role, and the business aspect of TOGAF, focuses on key elements such as value streams, capabilities, business processes, and organizational structures to ensure effective business transformation, improvement, and decision-making.

And this encouraged those that referenced it to look beyond the architecture review board, get out more and understand the business strategy and collaborate and cocreate with BUSINESS ANALYSTS and OPERATIONAL SMEs and even HR ahead of getting to carried away with tech.

What gap is EDGY filling

And then along came EDGY which in my mind extends out further from core architectural aspects of TOGAF and Business aspects of BIZBOK into amplifying more holistic aspects of the enterprise.

The purpose and identity, the brand and the experience, the product, capabilities and assets, the organisation design – recognising that everyone with roles in the transformation space is focused on designing and delivering better enterprises..

If you ask ChatGPT about EDGY it will suggest it’s a “business architecture framework designed to help organizations align business strategy, operations, and technology. It focuses on delivering value through a structured approach that integrates enterprise design, governance, and agility. EDGY emphasizes enabling flexibility, collaboration, and responsiveness to market changes, ensuring organizations can adapt and thrive in dynamic environments. The framework is particularly useful for organizations seeking to drive transformation while maintaining operational efficiency and alignment across business functions.”

EDGY encourages Enterprise Architects to step up and out of the established Architecture step by step process of TOGAF, build on the aligning operations to business strategies of BIZBOK and embrace Product Managers, Strategists, Researchers, Designers and HR factoring in a broader set of enterprise aspects in the design of better enterprises.

It prompts us all to consider identity, experience AND architecture rather than just the capabilities and assets of IT / technical architecture and to provide a shared language that can work across the disciplines to build shared understanding and to be able to collaborate together allowing BIZBOK and TOGAF to coexist.

I much prefer life after EDGY, it’s an evolution and the EDGY cohorts feel far more enterprise focused than tech focused and the EDGY principles, philosophies and tools feel far much more adaptive than TOGAF and more akin to BIZBOK so it’s not surprising that I’m attracted to EDGY.

As we continue to embrace the evolving landscape of enterprise transformation, EDGY offers a refreshing and holistic approach that bridges the gaps between architecture, business strategy, and organizational design.

Whether you’re an Enterprise Architect, a Business Analyst, or a product-focused leader, EDGY encourages us to think beyond traditional silos and foster deeper collaboration across disciplines.

If you’re ready to evolve your practice and adapt to the dynamic needs of today’s enterprises, I invite you to explore EDGY and join a community committed to building better, more agile organizations.

Together, with EDGY, we can shape the future of enterprise design and enable enterprises to have more impact where it matters most